WhatsUp™ – FAQ
The Network Monitoring Tool for Windows 

There are no programmed limits. Since the number of network elements is based on memory, you should be able to add a few thousand. The only problem will be finding screen space for them. One alternative is to split them into multiple maps and use the "subnet" icon to link the maps.

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Yes you can. WhatsUp will scan a range of IP addresses for you, and while it's establishing which TCP/IP machines are connected, it can also check on which TCP/IP services each machine has available. To start the scanning process, click on Tools->Import->Scan IP.

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WhatsUp comes with ping, lookup, traceroute, whois, and finger utilities. You can access these from the Tools->Network menu. Also, from the same menu, you can call the telnet or ftp application that comes with your TCP/IP stack.

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Go to the Properties window for the host you want to change. Then, under the Define tab you'll see "Connect prgm." This is where you should specify a connect program to replace the default telnet.exe.

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As Scan IP scans your network, it displays a window that lists all the hosts (and associated services, if requested) that it finds. You can selectively add these hosts to your network map by highlighting each one that you want to include and clicking the Add button. (Note that you can highlight groups of hosts using the Ctrl or Shift keys while selecting hosts with the mouse.)

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ICMP, DNS, ECHO, FTP, Gopher, NNTP, POP3, SMTP, Telnet, Time, and WWW

Also, you can monitor a specific TCP/IP service (e.g., an alternate Web server on a non-standard port) on a host by telling WhatsUp which port to monitor and specifying "Expect on Connect" and "Send to Disconnect" strings.

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Presently, you can only monitor hosts with TCP/IP. Make sure both machines (the one running WhatsUp and the one WhatsUp is monitoring) are running TCP/IP.

First, check to see if you have the "Monitor" option checked off in the host's Properties screen for each host that you want to monitor.

When that is all set, check to see if the TCP/IP protocol has been set up properly on the system that is running WhatsUp.

In either Windows NT or Windows 95, go to the control panel and click on Network. On this screen you'll see the TCP/IP protocol or a third-party TCP/IP stack.

If you do not have a TCP/IP stack installed, then install it now. Refer to your Windows NT or Win95 Help for installing TCP/IP.

Once installed, you should be able to ping another host. Open to an MS-DOS prompt and type in "ping" followed by a space and the name of another host.

If you successfully "pinged" another host, then you're all set to use WhatsUp.

If you get one of the following errors when WhatsUp is pinging another host,

• "Can't create raw socket type not supported for address family" or
• "Can't ping without ICMP support"

then select File->Properties from the menu bar. The WhatsUp Properties screen will appear with the default Program tab displayed. From there, you can select which polling method you want to use.

• If you are using the Microsoft TCP/IP software, then select Microsoft ICMP ping.
• If you are using third-party TCP/IP software, then select Raw socket ICMP ping.

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WhatsUp runs on Windows NT and Windows 95. It will not run on Windows 3.x.

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No, it doesn't.

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WhatsUp can notify you via a digital beeper, an alphanumeric pager message, or an e-mail message when a network element does not respond to polling. It can also be set up to send regularly scheduled network status reports via pager messages and/or e-mail messages at a specified time interval. In either case, setting up notifications involves two steps:

1. Defining the notification actions you want, and
2. Enabling the notification actions.

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You can define beeper and/or pager notification actions from either the network element’s Properties dialog box or by selecting Properties from the File Menu and clicking the Notifications tab. In either case, notifications are defined in an identical manner using the Notifications dialog box.

To define a beeper notification, enter a unique name to identify it, select Beeper notification type, enter the phone number to dial, and verify your communications setup by clicking the Comm Setup button.

To define a pager notification, enter a unique name to identify it and select Pager notification type. Enter the phone number to dial in the Terminal box, the password, the pager ID, and the message you would like to send (see the WhatsUp Users Guide for a list of system-defined message variables). Verify your communications setup by clicking the Comm Setup button.

In either case, once your communications setup is OK, simply click the Add button and your new beeper or pager notification will appear in the list of defined notifications. While it is selected, you can click the Test button to test it, or you can edit any options and click the Update button to change it. When you have finished defining new notifications or changing existing ones, click OK.

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For beeper notifications, enter the dial string (the default is ATDT%s,,,,%s#). The first %s is replaced by the phone number and the second %s is replaced by the beeper code. Most modems and beepers support the use of ‘#’ to terminate the message and ‘*’ to print out a dash. You may find a need to increase the number of commas in the dial string if it dials the code too soon or decrease the number of commas if it waits too long. Enter the modem initialization string (the default is ATEOQOV1X4). Select the baud rate, COM port, and timeout interval appropriate for your configuration and click OK.

For pager notifications, enter the modem initialization string (the default is ATEO). What is expected in this string are the modem commands for Command Echo Off (EO), Result Codes On (QO), and Verbal Results (V1). The recommended string to use is ATEOQOV1. Select the baud rate and COM port appropriate for your configuration and click OK.

Note: WhatsUp uses modem settings of 7 data bits, even parity, and 1 stop bit. If you have difficulties with dialing, try modifying the modem initialization string. See your modem manual for more information.

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After defining your beeper/pager notification actions, you need to enable them.

For a network element, you enable notification actions from the Down Action tab in the network element’s Properties box by clicking the New button. The Add Notification dialog box appears.

For sending regularly scheduled network status reports, you enable notification actions by selecting File->Properties->WhatsUp and then clicking the New button. The Add/Edit WhatsUp Reports dialog box appears.

In either case, select the defined notification action you want from the drop-down list along with any options and click OK. When you return to the Properties box, and after adding all the new notifications you want, select the Enable check box, click the Apply button, and click OK.

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Yes, you can. First, make a backup copy of your TCP/IP stack's "hosts" file:

• Acadia: \acadia\etc\hosts
• Win95: \windows\hosts
• Win NT: \winnt35\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Copy your UNIX-style DNS hosts file over your TCP/IP stack's hosts file, and then select Tools->Import->Auto Load from the menu bar.

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The Menu screen allows you to specify which programs show up when using the right mouse button menu on a specific host.

Check it out. While in the Properties->Menu screen, type "IMosaic" in the "Menu item" field. Click on Add, type "c:\acadia\apps\imosaic.exe http://%a" in the "Command line" field, click on Save, and then click on OK.

Now, when you click the right mouse button on that host, you'll see "IMosaic" as a choice on the menu.

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Last updated: August 21, 1997